Back again for Soulcalibur V is the character creation mode, and it’s better than ever.

Character creation has always been a touted game-feature of the weapon-clashing Soul series, from Namco Bandai, since the release of Soulcalibur III, where much like a Mr. Potato Head or what not, players could choose from a toolbox set of different fighting classes, clothing and armor, and physical features to assemble their vision of the ultimate warrior. Or… to just make knock-offs of familiar gaming faces like Ryu from Street Fighter II or Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid, which fair enough, looked cool also.

Launching in January, Soulcalibur V’s own character creation mode truly goes beyond it’s predecessors by giving unlimited amounts of freedom to personalize your character as you so choose. From just the standard facial features and clothing carousel options (which are awesome in their own right), you can go even deeper than before by molding together different trinkets to specific armor pieces — like adding devil horns to a set of samurai armor. There really is so many countless options to choose from this go around — it’s mighty impressive. Oh, and of course, if you just want to make Ken or Bayonetta, then have at.

Check out the five minute video starring Hisaharu Tago, Soulcalibur V’s producer, while he shows us the game’s fully-fledged character creator. Not only is it informative, but it’s really funny too!

Square-Enix wants to get you into the role-playing game mood by featuring three classic such titles, starting this November, with the “Winter of RPGs” campaign. Exactly which three you’ll just have to click here to find out!

Namco Bandai invites the master assassin from Assassin’s Creed: Revelations to join the next Soulcalibur game, which now has a release date for 2012.

To be Ezio, or not to be Ezio — that is the question! … See that would of made for such a super cool introductory line if Namco Bandai hadn’t gone and already let the cat out the bag by making the rumors of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations protagonist, Ezio Auditore de Firenze, appearing in the upcoming Soulcalibur V true. Ah, biscuits.

Anywho, as I mentioned, Ezio in the next installment of Namco Bandai’s flagship sword-fighter is 100% official, extending the cast of weapon-carrying combatants to eighteen after the axe-wielding golem, Astaroth, and steel-clawed, Viola, were unveiled quite recently. Though that that amount certainly won’t be capped there for too long — as scuttlebutt of another new mysterious Soulcalibur V character has been circling the web.

We might not have any concrete info on that hot piece of gossip, but we can show you Ezio being introduced in the world of Soulcalibur V with a fine piece of footage provided by Namco Bandai themselves. Feast your eyes on this:

I like how they flipped the “A” in Assassin’s Creed to match the roman “V” in Soulcalibur V — I see what you did there Namco Bandai you cheeky monkeys you.

Oh and I also saw — and I’m sure you probably did too unless you where overwhelmed by the awesomeness that was seeing Ezio in action (if you need to go take a breather go for it, I’ll understand) — towards the end of the trailer, a January 31st, 2012 release date for the game in North America (Europe gets it on February 3.) Which is also official too, so get ready for a new year of epic showdowns and blazing-sword action in 2012, with Soulcalibur V.

While we’re on the subject of awesome trailers, I hope you saw the extended cut trailer for the game Ezio is naturally starring in come this November 15th, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.

Swords and weapons clash again with the announcement of Soul Calibur V — set to release tentatively in 2012.

While Street Fighter II has its hands firmly around the realm of fisticuffs, the Soul series from Namco Bandai has been a sharp force when it comes to the weapon-based one-on-one fighting scene, with none other than the original SoulCalibur as its most defining jem in the series.

Introducing a genius control feature that allowed players an unlimited range of movement never before seen in a 3D fighting game, SoulCalibur was a monster hit for the Sega Dreamcast back in 1998 and is today consistently considered as one of the best fighting games, if not plainly, one of the best games of all time. Interestingly enough, SoulCalibur did have an Arcade counterpart – although I won’t fault you if you don’t remember it – the Dreamcast version was light-years above the Arcade one in terms of graphics, game play, and content.

Now after trying its hand at adding special characters like Link from The Legend of Zelda in SoulCalibur II, role-playing game wrinkles in the single-player for SoulCalibur III, and a very deep character creation system in SoulCalibur IV – the series is back once more for its fifth iteration on the PlayStation 3 (its second on the Sony next gen platform.)

Announced recently at its “Step Up Dubai 2011” press event, Namco Bandai officially unsheathed SoulCalibur V (along with the neato little teaser trailer above.) Details about the next Project Soul developed title were scarce at the event, but what was learned is that SoulCalibur V takes place 17 years after the last SoulCalibur and introduces a flashy new combatant named Patroklos, who so happens to be the son of the Soul series featured heroine Sopithia.

In a later Eurogamer interview with Hisaharu Tago, the Project Soul producer labeled SoulCalibur V as a “generational shift” which will feature some new characters and a “lighter, sharper, and more elegant” fighting engine that stays true to the series core game play but improves the pace and usability for newcomers.

For the rest of what SoulCalibur V might offer this time around, information on that won’t come until this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo — so stay tuned further developments! With the PlayStation Network being down and a timeline of when it’ll be back and running still far off, its not like you got anything else to do!